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Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Yidhra - "Cult of Bathory" EP (Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 07/12/2015

Label: Black Voodoo Records

“Cult of Bathory” DD//LP track listing:

A1). Cult of Bathory

A2). IronMountain

B1). The Adversary

B2). Reign of Terror

The Review:

Stoner doom from LA, but nothing like other Californians such as Kyuss or Fu Manchu, though. Think more doom and less stoner. The EP offers up 4 tracks and is not too far off half an hour in length, so your money's worth is guaranteed. The recording has a lovely live and ringing drum sound, with well mixed bass and guitars. Vocals are of the low and throaty-but not too extreme- variety. “IronMountain” has a spacey and stoner-ish quality, as opposed to the more straightforward doom of the opening title track.

“The Adversary”sounds very much in the vein of traditional doom with its heavy and downcast riffs and rhythms approach. Dynamics are used throughout; the band does not just make a wall of noise, so there peaks and troughs aplenty.

“Reign Of Terror”closes this impressive EP in very metal style, with a half stepping riff and an initially up tempo (for doom) approach. It is nice to hear the band incorporating these types of trad influences into their sound. I suppose if you combined Trouble with Kyuss and Saint Vitus, it would sound a little like this. There is some nice lead work on this track and it finishes off the release strongly, having given the listener a good flavour of what the band is all about over its varied playing time. A band to listen to and also one to watch, too.

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